This invention relates to compounds which are alkali metal anion salts of metal cations in bicyclic polyoxadiamines and to a method for their preparation.
The use of reducing agents is important in both organic and inorganic synthesis. Since most generally available reducing agents have but a single electron available, a free radical may form during synthesis which may lead to the formation of undesirable intermediate compounds in reactions requiring two electrons for completion. Solutions of salts of alkali anions can eliminate some of these problems, since the anions are two-electron reducing agents. The driving force for the reaction M.sup.- .revreaction.m.sup.+ + 2e.sup.- is very large and the stability of an intermediate state M is expected to be low. Therefore reactions which require two electrons for completion will be easier to carry out than with, for example, metal-ammonia solutions, which appear to go via one-electron steps with intermediate radical formation. The potential number of two electron reactions in both organic and inorganic synthesis is large and may include aromatic reductions, metal alkyl formation and reductions of transition metal complexes to low-valence states.